The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-06-15
THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.
FINE OPPORTUNITIES AFFORDED
THE ASTRONOMERS.

A11E AS1NONOmEtSS
The Line Of Totally VIII Pass Over Europe
and Moscow win be Splendid Point
for Making observation-disclosures
Of the Notwithstanding Problems.
The total eclipse of the sun, which
Will occur on August 10 next, though
only of average duration, will offer ex-
ceptional opportunities for observation
from the circumstance that the track OF
the moons shadow will be almost entirely
continental one, in striking contrast to
the eclipses of the last four years, in all
OF which the shadow has followed q
course which has been principally over
the great oceans. The eclipse, says Ma
f'tre, an English scientific periodical, is
technically partial one for the principal
part of Great Britain, but as It will be
nearly over before sunrise, 1t will
practically not be visible here The
middle phase will have been reached
at sunrise, for places little to the west
of Berlin; and this city lying within the
path of the shadow, it is just possible
that it may be favored with sight of
the phenomena of totality, though with
sun close to the horizon; for the sun
will be largely obscured as It rises, and
will not be quite 80 high at the end of
the total phase From Prussia the
shadow track passes into Russia, and
the central line does not leave the Dor
ders of the Russian empire until it
reaches East longitude 1872. 1t then
crosses Manchuria and the Sea of Japan,
and cuts the principal island of the
Japanese group little to the north of
the capital. The final portion of its
course lies over the North Pacific ocean,
and except for the little island of Rico
de Orc, 1t does not touch land again.
The path of totality not only lies
mainly over the land, but large number
of important towns are either actually in
cluded within or lie very close to its
limits. Konigsberg lies just outside.
Kovno, wilma and Vitebsk, are well
within the shadow; wilma being nearly
on the central line. At these towns,
however, the sun will still be too low for
them to afford desirable stations for OBJ
servations, and probably the neighbor-
hood of Moscow will be the nearest dis
trict which will be occupied by astrono-
mers.
At Moscow itself the eclipse will not
lie quite total, since that city lies just
outside the southern edge of the shadow
track, but three lines of railway radiat-
ing from Moscow will afford easy access
to places actually ON the central line.
The most westerly of these three rail-
ways is that which unites st. Petersburg
with the older capital, and which passes
through Twer. Twer is nearly on the
central line, but little to the north of
It. The sun will have an elevation of
about 16o in this neighborhood,
and the maximum duration of to-
tality Is not quite two minutes and a
half. At Twer itself 1t will be only 1874
seconds.
Three parties, two German and one
French, win take up positions within
the government of which Twer is the
capital. The second line runs from
Moscow to vologda, passing through
Jaroslavi, which lies within but near the
edge Of the shadow. Petrowsk on this
railway is very near the central line, and
here the sun will be % higher than near
liver, and the duration t5e seconds. The
third line runs to Kineshma, which is
itself very near the central line. Here
the sun will be about 900 high, and the
total eclipse on the central line will last
1850 seconds. 1t will not, however, be
difficult TO proceed to yet more favora-
BILE positions further east. From Mos
COW there is a line through Mini Nov
gorod to Kazan, and service of river
steamers runs thence up the River Kama
to Perm. Perm lies to the south of the
central line, but the totally lasts
there 173 seconds, whilst the sun Is $50
high at mid eclipse. II the weather should
be favorable, Perm would be, therefore,
a very suitable station for those astrono-
mers who can spare the time to journey
so far; for others the neighborhoods of
Petrowsk and Kineshma will afford read
lily accessible sites. Professor Bredichin,
director OF the Moscow Observatory, has
his own private observatory near
Kineshma, and very close to the central
line; and he has generously offered the
hospitality of his house to the Royal AS
Economical Societyfor twoEnglish astron-
omers, an offer which has been gratefully
accepted by the society, on behalf Of DR..
Copeland and the Rev. s. J. Perry. Prof
O. A. Young also will have his station
here, and strong party of Italian and
English astronomers, consisting of Pro-
fessors Tacchini and Rlcco, and Messrs.
Common and Turner, will be located at
no great distance away, In the neighbor-
ing government of Vladimir.
The eclipse being visible In Europe
and from places so readily accessible from
England, 1t is not probable, therefore, that
any English astronomers will go so far
east as Siberia. II may be hoped that
Russian astronomers will make good this
defect, especially as four OF the prlnci-
pal towns of Siberia lie on the shadow
track-Tobolsk, Tomsk, Krasnoiarsk and
Irkutsk; the first and third being close
to the central line, and the sun being
eclipsed when nearly on the meridian at
Irkutsk A series OF Siberian stations
is the more TO be desired since this
eclipse offers an exceptionally favorable
opportunity for a concerted scheme
OF observation. The path of totality
comedies in a most remarkable manner
with the lines of the Russian overland
telegraph, so that IL win be perfectly
possible to select series of stations In
telegraphic communication with each
other, and extending over line Of 100
degrees of Longitude, with an extreme
difference in the absolute time of totality
OF more than an hour and half. II ap-
pears, Professor Todd learns from letter
from DIR. s. Won Glasenapp, that the Rus
sian telegraph service may be expected
to give the use of its lines at the time for
astronomical purposes. 1t is certainlyto
be hoped that so unique an opportunity
may not be lost for 1t might well happen
that some discovery, either in solar re-
search OF of comet or intra-Mercurial
planet, might receive In this manner the
most satisfactory confirmation and de-
velonment